2nd Night Investigation Mini-Doc Part B-10 – Maine Ghost Hunters investigates an abandoned hospital somewhere in the U.S. with teams from across the country in a group effort to capture evidence of paranormal activity on the grounds.

The “demon” actually identifies itself through the Ovilus! ? Watch the progression to this newbie investigator almost pass-out while standing, during the investigation. We all removed ourselves from this environment directly after.

Edit added 12/8/2009 :

The investigator that was “attacked” in this segment of the investigation had asked to be allowed to leave the the investigation just moments before. She made it clear she felt like she needed to exit this environment, and felt very uncomfortable. The team leads were somewhat insistent that everybody remain together, so she stayed with the group.

What we see here is not an act. Her reaction is as genuine as the reaction of the group.

2nd Night Investigation Mini-Doc Part B-11 – Maine Ghost Hunters investigates an abandoned hospital somewhere in the U.S. with teams from across the country in a group effort to capture evidence of paranormal activity on the grounds.

Edited 12/8/2009

Group leaders try and help this new investigator force away what caused her to have a near-collapse just moments earlier. For obvious reasons, she’s a bit uneasy with the environment and her surroundings. The Henryton has had this effect on many investigators over the years, especially those with natural sensitivities to stronger spiritual presences.

2nd Night Investigation Mini-Doc Part B-12 – Maine Ghost Hunters investigates an abandoned hospital somewhere in the U.S. with teams from across the country in a group effort to capture evidence of paranormal activity on the grounds.

Is this investigator’s sudden change in demeanor due to a possible attachment? Or something else?

2nd Night Investigation Mini-Doc Part B-13 – Maine Ghost Hunters investigates an abandoned hospital somewhere in the U.S. with teams from across the country in a group effort to capture evidence of paranormal activity on the grounds.

It’s kind of funny when the Ghost Box calls David an a$$hole. It doesn’t get much clearer than this clip here.

MGH Team leaders Kat & Tony have already had their 1st “coincidental” experience for today.

Kat has been nudging Tony to go to The Henryton for a while this morning. He finally called PRRS team leader, Jenny, to get the scoop on the day’s events. In a frustrated “tease” Tony said aloud “Kat wants to go”, inferring he didn’t. Just as he said this something started beeping in our hotel room. Our teen and I thought it was the alarm clock at first. After listening closely (Tony was still on the phone) we discovered the sound was coming from our Ghost Hunting gear-box. When it was opened up we discovered the beeping was coming from our GhostBox, which is a modified Radio Shack AM/FM Radio.

Coincidence? Possibly. Heck, maybe even “probably”. However, in an effort to stop the beeping and save the batteries we agreed to just take the batteries out and flip them around. We could put them back in later. So the first battery was removed. The radio remained powered (not beeping, because we had pushed a button to stop that already). We removed the 2nd battery. It still remained powered. After removing all 3 batteries the radio stayed powered for almost 2 full minutes before the screen finally blanked out.

The initial beeping was, of course, incredibly coincidental given the chain of circumstances.

The Henryton Sanitarium in Marriottsville, Maryland. What is there to say about the Henryton that can’t already be “felt” the moment you step foot into any one of the dilapidated buildings? The place is falling apart, it’s true. However, it’s also being destroyed, piece by piece, by purposeful vandals and vagrants. It’s a sad sight to see, but in a different perspective, it is also a thing of beauty. It’s definitely Urban Exploration at its best, and as for the paranormal investigations? This place is the cream-of-the-creepy-crop.

On Monday October 6, 2008 MaineGhostHunters Tony and Kat took a drive to a location neither had previously been to before, for a short investigation with a primary purpose of using our Ghost Box for the first time.&nbsp; This is what Kat has to say about the day’s events.

The drive to this particular location was somewhat unplanned. I knew about this cemetery because I had been by it before, but I hadn’t actually gone inside it or anything, so while I knew it was there, it was still virgin ground for us as investigators.&nbsp; Our reason for being out that day, at this cemetery in particular, was to test out our new ghost box.&nbsp; Tony had modified the Radio Shack am/fm model 20-125 a while back and we hadn’t gotten around to using it yet so we wanted to take it to a location away from our house where spirit activity might be prevalent.

Now, I’m a firm believer that spirits don’t stick solely with their physical bodies once they pass one from this life, but I also believe that we, as people, know our loved ones visit graves from time to time to pay homage to those people who may have affected our lives in some way or another.&nbsp;&nbsp; If we know they they’re probably going to be visiting where we’re buried, and we know we can’t make contact with them at other “normal” locations they’d be at, like in their homes or in their cars, or what have you, then what other place would make sense to try and make contact?&nbsp;&nbsp; At least at a graveyard they’re more likely to be wanting to make contact, why else would they go to a place to visit someone who’s been deceased for however-long?&nbsp; People go to burial grounds for a few reasons; to make peace, to show respect, to pay homage, to grieve, and sometimes, to receive some sort of sign from the other side.&nbsp;

So anyway, we made our way into the cemetery, and I have to tell you, it was really not at all a creepy place. The cemetery is wide open, bright and airy, and there’s even a couple of new glossy stone benches to sit on. There are some fantastic monuments to be seen in this cemetery, and the overall area is pretty expansive. There are old burials as well as new ones throughout the grounds, so you really get a strong mix of time-periods, and in some cases you get a strong sense of family because there’s quite a few generations of similar names and heritage lines buried in close proximity to each other.

When we started our ghost box session we decided to ask for the older generation to step forward.&nbsp;&nbsp; We had never really done this before so we weren’t entirely sure what we should be doing or how we should be going about it.&nbsp; After we asked the older generation to communicate with us it seemed we were getting “possible” responses from the box, but being realists we also admitted that those sounds and words coming from box could be just as much “random” as “purposeful”, so we let them go.&nbsp; We considered our ghost box session up to this point to be uneventful and unsuccessful.&nbsp;

It was after this failed attempt at making contact with the older, wiser, crowd that we asked them to step back and we appealed to the lesser number of deceased population in the cemetery (at least we hoped that was the case).&nbsp; We asked the younger crowd to step forward, anyone under the age of 20 was invited to make contact with us.&nbsp; Here’s how it went:

One of the more significant events we experienced while at this cemetery and while using this ghost box is that we continued asking questions about the kids, and learned that “Timmy” (as heard in the above session) was 14/15 years old when he died and no matter where we looked we couldn’t find a “Timmy” anywhere on the grounds. We chalked this up to a sort of failure, and a learning experience for future sessions, letting this be a reminder that we need to be careful of what we really are hearing and what we’re really not hearing.

Later on in the ghost box session we had received messages from the device which led us to believe we should be looking for something “red” beside one of the headstones.&nbsp; There was nothing “red” within site so, always within site of Tony, I set off on a solo jaunt through the cemetery to see what I could find.&nbsp; While I was walking the grounds Tony was holding the ghost box and began to communicate with it.&nbsp;&nbsp; When I returned I noticed he was walking around in the center of the cemetery while holding the ghost box out in front of him so he could clearly hear what was being said from it.&nbsp; He told me the ghost box had told him to look for “Curtis” in the “middle” of the cemetery.&nbsp; Apparently, “Curtis” was a name that was said repeatedly and Tony couldn’t deny it any more, so he went searching for a headstone by that name.&nbsp; He hadn’t yet found it when I arrived, so when he told me what he was looking for and how he came to understand where to look for it, I took the direction as well.

From our perception, the box was giving us directions on where to walk. “Middle”, “back up”, “look”, etc… by the time we were finished we were standing among a family plot area with a large number of “Curtis” headstones. It was a strange experience and from a skeptical point of view, I suppose it could have been one that started with a subconscious noticing of the headstones as we walked into the cemetery. It’s a stretch, but I suppose it’s almost as reasonable as thinking a radio could throw out random words and lead us to a cluster of “Curtis” headstones. At this point, I didn’t know what to think.

During another section of this ghost box session Tony had told me, a couple of times, that he kept hearing the word “Frank”. He was sure we should be paying attention to this name but it wasn&
#039;t enough to find A Frank, he needed a last name to put the “questionable” nature of this “random shot in the dark” possibility, to rest. Here’s how this portion of the session went down.

Kat: Oh my god, I’m gonna start to freak out if that was – that was sooo. What was the name?
Tony: Maybe it was Isaac we heard instead of Frank

[we're walking toward the Byrom headstone, looking at all names of headstones that are in the immediate vicinity. we meet up on the left side-edge of the Byrom headstone just as Tony finishes saying "maybe it was isaac we heard instead of Frank"]

I find that particular sound file to be a little challenging, but the information is there, and hopefully you can understand what’s being said in it.&nbsp;&nbsp; We weren’t planning on doing anything with the audio file, in terms of the ghost box session, so we didn’t record for the purposes of replaying the session later.&nbsp; We were mainly recording for EVP’s and admittedly, some of the lower toned sounds and words spoken from the radio are a little difficult to hear.

At one point during our time in the cemetery Tony decided he needed to hunt down a name the ghost box had said.&nbsp; Since I had already gone on a solo jaunt through the grounds I decided to let him take this one himself, which left me standing alone with the ghost box in my hand.&nbsp; In a laissez faire sort of way I asked the ghost box to say my name, and this is what transpired.

I have a brother named Michael.&nbsp;&nbsp; As you might be able to tell, I was a little thrown aback by the fact that my brother’s name was said.&nbsp; In fact, when I heard it, I was genuinely speechless, and like I’ve said before, that rarely ever happens.&nbsp;

After the “Frank” & “and Michael” incidents happened, our time there was quite limited – by choice. We were getting pretty anxious to head out of the grounds and to put this box away for another time. A time when we could really come to terms with what did, or what did not happen there in that cemetery on this day. Did we really hear what we thought we did? Did the ghost box send us to the “Curtis” memorials? Did it tell us to look for “Frank… Byrom”. Afterall, when it said the name “Byrom” I was certain it was saying the name “Byron”. Byron is n’t a common name, but it is a name. And while I was trying to bring some sort of order to all that was running through my mind about how we could justify that what we thought was happening, wasn’t happening at all, I had to be honest and admit that “Byrom” is extremely close to the name “Byron”, especially when you hear it on a radio, outdoors, and have never heard the name “Byrom” before. You’re far more likely to translate a word you haven’t heard before, into a word you are more comfortable with hearing. Hence, the reason “Byrom” was heard (or even said) as “Byron”.

We were discussing all of this, and much more, as we made our way back to the car and came upon a large family monument with the name “James” Small on it.&nbsp; The man had lived into his 80′s or 90′s and had a grandson who was also named “James” who had lived only to the age of 14 or 15&nbsp; (we didn’t actually take note of the months of birth/death, so we aren’t sure if he was 14 or 15 when he died).&nbsp; And on the younger James’ small square individual grave marker was written … “JIMMY”, which brought us back to the very start of our ghost box session when we reached a boy by the name of “Timmy”.&nbsp;&nbsp; On our way out of the cemetery we had heard the name “James” a couple of times, which is the name of a dear and close relative of ours, so we weren’t sure what to do with the information.&nbsp;&nbsp; In this very same sequence we had heard the words “Oh – Seven”.&nbsp; Young Jimmy Small lived to the year of 1907 and died a young boy under the age of 20.&nbsp;

Recovering from an all nighter at the monstrous Fort Knox in Prospect, Maine. What a fantastic night we spent with some awesome folks and new friends. If you haven’t been to Fort Knox we highly recommend the drive. You could easily spend a whole day just poking around the place, inside and out. There are plenty of picnic areas, a gift shop, and a super tall obsevatory look-out building perched on top of the new bridge. There’s plenty to do and lots to experience, and if you’re lucky you might just encounter a friendly spirit with a watchful and protective eye. When MGH (Maine Ghost Hunters) investigated the Fort this weekend we felt nothing negative or evil to speak of. If anything at all, we’d have to say any presences at Fort Knox were nothing less than “officers and gentlemen”… Overall it was a wonderful experience and we look forward to reviewing our evidence.

What can be said about the Anderson Cemetery… We made our visit to Anderson during mid-morning on a Sunday. It was our first trip to the cemetery and I have to admit, we missed the entrance to it, probably 8+ times. If you’re planning on going to Anderson Cemetery I’ll tell you that it’s down a long dirt entrance that looks like someone’s driveway. It’s not someone’s driveway, its the Anderson Entrance and it doesn’t have a sign near the road like, in my opinion, it really should.

The reason we did a pre-investigation of the Anderson Cemetery is because we’ve been made aware of paranormal activity that has taken place here for quite a few years. We’ve heard about weird mists, plasma, strange sounds, apparitions, orb activity, and other supernatural occurrences. We did a dry run in an impromptu attempt at capturing EVP’s, and took quite a few daytime pictures at the location, some of which yielded a few question-worthy results.

[ Updated ]

Originally we thought this to be a Revolutionary War Solider’s burial mound, that of Peter Thatcher Smith. But after some light independent research, and the help of sites like FindAGrave.com, we later discovered this man to be a prominent member of early Windham. In our search to find the significance behind grave symbology we had initially come into the belief that a raised bed over a grave, otherwise known as a “burial mound”, meant that the individual interred was a high ranking member of the armed forces, and was also likely to have been active during war time. This turned out to be an incorrect assessment on our part, and we are grateful to be able to correct our original misinformation so we can present a more accurate biography of the persons interred.

The man buried under this prominent burial mound is named Peter Thatcher Smith. He was a reverend in the town of Windham for many years, and a very important member of its social structure. He lived to be 96 years old and even after he retired from his duties as a Reverend he remained in Windham to be close to his 11 children and countless grandchildren. His home is well known in the town – the Parson Smith House – and is supposedly located in a close vicinity to the Anderson-Smith cemetery.

This burial mound is a family tomb, and Peter Thatcher Smith is surrounded by loved ones in death, as he was in life. There may be numerous family members buried within, and while FindAGrave.com lists a number of interred as inscribed on the visible grave marker, there are likely names missing.

Another peculiar area of the cemetery is the “den” area that sets against the back boundary near the tree line of the neighboring farmland. It has been said that a male spirit occupies this den from time to time and although we aren’t certain of his intentions, through our research we have learned that he may not be entirely open to having visitors. We haven’t been made aware of any aggressive or negative actions by spirits in this area so we settled at this den area first. TJ was eager to get some EMF readings and to make his attempt at capturing some EVP’s so we hit this den hard, and first. Interestingly enough, I did capture a clearly red orb in TJ’s immediate vicinity, almost immediately. The orb appeared as TJ was sitting inside of the den. The skeptic in me says it’s just an orb, and the deeper skeptic in me says that my camera was catching sun-spots in my lens all afternoon. The “believer” in me says that this red looking orb looks quite different than the other red sunspots caught throughout the day; shows up lower in the photo than the sunspots reflecting off my lens from other shots; and doesn’t seem to be subject to the same sunlight related issues the other sunspot orbs are indicative of. Meaning, the red sunspots that occur, clearly as a result of lens flair, also show an obvious abundance of sunlight throughout the shot. This particular red orb doesn’t appear in a photo with an exuberant amount of light. As a matter of fact, the sunlight in this shot seems to be pretty uniform throughout. I’ve seen many of our photographs exhibit many different types and forms of “orb”, most of which we don’t get too excited about. However, there is that occasional orb that causes us to take a deeper look. I would have to classify this particular orb as one that deserves a second glance. I openly welcome – heck, invite! – you to comment on this particular orb. I’d love to hear what people have to say about it.

So back to this den area. While TJ and I were investigating the den, TonyL was wandering about the nearby area snapping pictures with the digital camera. As he was doing this, TJ and I were asking questions to any potential spirits in the area. At one point I asked the name of the spirit I was speaking with at the time. Flash forward to a couple of days later when I was reviewing the evidence. For this particular batch of evidence I decided to review the audio evidence first, and the visual evidence last. So I sifted through the different aspects of audio, wrote notes, and bookmarked the actual files, etc… In one particular spot, the point where I asked the spirit what it’s name was, I thought I may have heard a response of “Matthew”. This was observed before I had looked at any of the video, or any of the photographs TonyL had taken. After I finished with the audio, almost all of which I found to be less than impressive, and less than persuasive, I sifted through the photos when lo’ and behold I came across a somewhat recent headstone (within the last 40 years) that said “Matthew” on it. It struck me, immediately. Every now and again, as an investigator, you come across a piece of evidence, such as the EVP I thought may have been saying “Matthew” but wasn’t sure, that seems insignificant until you find another separate piece of evidence that corroborates what you thought might have been “slightly possible”. When this happens to me it sometimes sends a shiver up my spine, lol. I remember looking at this headstone thinking “I wonder why, of all the headstones, why is there a picture of this…. Matthew” and then it hit me. There are those who believe that not much in this life happens by accident. “There are no accidents”… Maybe they’re right? I don’t know. It was just… very coincidental.

After this den area TJ and I went to the large and impressive Anderson Crypt, which takes up a good amount of space and at its center height is probably a good 10 to 12 f
eet heigh as measured from the floor to pinnacle. TonyL took pictures while TJ and I attempted a run at collecting some EVP’s. This is an area I’m glad we approached in the day time because there is no doubt in my mind that there was knocking coming from inside of this enclosed vault. The knocking may have come from an animal nesting within the crypt but it’s “knocking” timing was incredibly close to moments we were looking for “knocking” responses from any spirits that may wish to make contact with us. TJ did point out that there was at least 1 hole where a burrowing animal could enter the crypt, and was probably making its home within the enclosed area, safe from predators and the elements alike. My skeptic side agrees it’s most likely an animal. My “believer” side takes a little bit of time to tantalize the “what if’s”, but our scientific approach to all things paranormal leaves us with little choice but to reinforce the obvious: there are “burrowing” holes on both grassy sides of the crypt, and TJ claimed to be able to look inside the crypt from at least 1 of these holes. While we were all quite entertained by the possibility that these knocks may have been in response to some of our questions, the more likely and far more reasonable explanation would be “animal related”.

We ended our time at the Anderson Cemetery with a walk around the cemetery and shooting of some video. The cemetery was starting to get really busy, surprisingly so. As we were wrapping up our last 15 to 20 minutes we encountered 3 vehicles with 2 passengers each, one of which was parked and the occupants wound up touring the grounds. I’ll say that the Anderson Cemetery wasn’t incredibly inviting, but it also wasn’t at all foreboding. As far as addressing why people may think it’s home to eerie and suspicious paranormal activity, we definitely took note of some possible reasonings for that line of thinking. We walked the grounds with intent to observe any such supernatural occurrences, or occurrences which could be perceived as supernatural. I feel it may be best to stake out an area during a comfortable and relaxed time frame so we can get a general feel for the area. If nothing else, at least we’d be able to get a lay of the land and familiarize ourselves with the surroundings, the sounds, the animals, the different wildlife we might encounter, and in cases where the outdoors is concerned, like this one, the wind patterns and how the environment impacts the natural course of gusts and/or bursts of wind. We did find an area out past the tree line toward a neighboring farm we think may have been the Anderson family farm many years ago. This patch of land is somewhat akin to a “strip” of land. It looked to be roughly 40 yards wide, by at least 150 to 200 yards long, maybe longer. It’s not flat though, it rolls quite heavily in certain places. We got the impression that the wind could really grab a hold of the trees and the dips in the hilly parts of this land, and that could make for some pretty eerie howls. I, for one, would not want to be stuck down here solo at night, I can tell you that much. There’s no light down here, also, so when it gets dark, I’m imagining it would rival the definition of the term “pitch black”.

Another visual aspect of this location is that, given the age of the cemetery, and the fact that not all of those buried here are of the same congregation, or even “religion” for that matter, there tends to be an interruption of continuity, to some degree. There seem to be family plots, and while this is the Anderson Cemetery, dedicated to the Anderson family, at least at the start, it seems that the family grew quite large and branched out to include much more than just the “Anderson” clan. There are clearly portions of this cemetery that are older than others, and there are clearly portions of this cemetery that have been taken care of better than others. In looking at the overall layout of the land, and the care that’s been taken with the grounds, I’m definitely of the notion that someone needs to get down there to mow the place. It appears to have been left to deteriorate in its own time, which is a shame because it has the potential to be a wonderfully serene location. We’re planning our permissible night time investigation in the next 2 months and we’ll definitely be placing our “official investigation evidence” online to share with maineghosthunters.net and maineghosthunters.org members.

At the beginning of August, 2008 TonyL and I (KatM) took a drive out to New Gloucester to observe the gravesites of the numerous patients who died while in the care and/or under the guardianship of the Pinelands institution. We’re still researching the matter but the history of Pinelands, as a mental health institution, really preceded its very name up until the most recent of times. The accounts of patient maltreatment, abuse, neglect, and abhorrent human condition that plagued the earlier days of this facility have given rise to notions that those who passed-on while confined to Pinelands never really left this place; and some may still haunt the location of their final resting spot.
Another aspect of the Pinelands burial ground, which is of the utmost importance in the record of Maine’s social history, would be the exhumation and relocation of the Malaga Island graveyard. It’s hard to imagine the state of Maine taking part in a racial movement so heinous it remains one of the deepest, darkest, skeletons in the closet of our social misgivings to this very day. Malaga Island, now known as Harbor Island, was once considered a safe haven for African-Americans and other “lower class” citizens of the state of Maine during times of slavery, Civil War, and the reconstruction era. Malaga Island was home to citizens of various social and economic backgrounds. Those inhabitants of Malaga very much depended on each other, the land, and the sea for their very survival. Even though they lived a remote and often destitute existence the residents of Malaga often posed little issue to mainlanders, in presence or political clout. If there were ever a time the cliché “they kept to themselves” would apply, I would figure it would fit here, the best.

Given its location and remoteness from the rest of the State it would make sense that those African-Americans and poverty stricken “Whites” would keep to themselves and make as little waves as possible when bringing attention to their situation. They had a good thing over on Malaga Island. They didn’t bother the mainlanders and the mainlanders didn’t bother them. That was, until, out-of-staters decided that Malaga Island was a beautiful refuge for summer emigrants, such as themselves, looking for a rocky coast to perch for a couple of months each year. It was then that the racial and socio-economic clash began, and the systematic and forced removal of all those persons who “scarred” the beautiful coastline of Maine with their low-class lifestyle was put into motion.

The governor of Maine declared, without conscience and without apology, that all African-Americans of Malaga Island were to be removed, whether they wanted to leave, or not; and went so far as to remove their dead from Malaga’s graveyards, having them interred 40 miles away in the cemetery of the Pineland Institution which was, itself, an institution of lost children and people who were “thrown-away” by family and forgotten by society. The unwilling and unwanted exhumation of entire families from Malaga, reburied in a location many of them had probably never even been to before, in life… The destitution of these people and their lack of ability to defend themselves and the places they called “home”, in life, and in death, must have been overwhelming. Their displacement forever left a mark on the dark history the State of Maine goes to great lengths to hide. It is for these reasons, and many others I have yet to mention, that we take stock in the notion that Pineland Cemetery may, indeed, be haunted by those souls seeking a fair and just resolution to their unfair treatment in life and in death.

We did not proceed with an official investigation at this location but we did scope out the area to determine how to best go about conducting one. The cemetery is in a field that is open to the road, as well as to an adjacent cemetery called “Webber Cemetery”. Pineland Cemetery is located near the tree line to a wooded area and the grounds seem to be meticulously maintained. The grave markers are uniformly plain, lacking any sort of artistry or design, or personal creativity denoting the “person” each exists for. While it may appear to have the uniformity of a veteran’s cemetery, this is a mere façade. At least at a veteran’s cemetery there are symbols denoting each veteran’s accomplishments, dates of birth and death, and many times they are accompanied by a spouse, the latter at least expressing they’re loved, missed, and appreciated. The grave markers at Pineland Cemetery are just that, markers. Some lack birth dates, all lack any information other than birth, death, and name. There are a few cases of multiple persons buried extremely close together, apparently “siblings” in some cases, but never an epitaph discerning their relation (if they have one).

While on location TonyL claims to have had an experience we tried to get on digital camera and on tape but couldn’t because the battery to my video camera was sucked dry, and all of the photos we took after TonyL announced that the “experience” was taking place came out purple and blurry. My camera batteries for this digital camera also went from “full” to “dying” in an extremely short period of time. We are planning a return nighttime trip with “permission” in hand by the proper authorities in the next 2 months.